Black Bean and Sweet Potato Turkey Chili

So last week I explained a new feature you’ll be seeing pop up around here every once and a while called “Friday Faves.” You can click on my last post and read the intro to see what it’s all about. While these totally aren’t meant to be *giveaway* posts, that’s not to say we can’t give anything away every once and a while. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who jumped on that post and left comments, because as bloggers, that’s really how we connect with all of you out there and we love hearing your thoughts, ideas, and funny stories! To say thanks, I used random.org to pick one of the comments from that post and it was lucky number 17, Michele. Michele- I’m going to send you a big ol’ box of some of the goodies featured in that post, so check your email!

Now onto today’s recipe. Somehow in the last couple of weeks fall has arrived in Boise. It’s suddenly very chilly in the mornings, and gloriously sunny in the afternoons. The perfect sweater-but-no-coat weather for most of the day and I love it. I spent a large portion of my last week trudging through nurseries and tree farms, picking landscape plants for the house we’re building and it has reminded me why (especially as a horticulturist at heart) I love this season so much! And when fall arrives, my slow-cooker makes more appearances on my counter (much to my grill’s dismay.) I’d been thinking about this chili in my head for a long time and finally thought I’d start throwing it together. It’s definitely a little different than the other chili recipes on our site. You might be surprised by some of the ingredients, but don’t be scared. We’re friends, remember? Tender sweet potatoes actually pair really well with black beans, and this chili might be super low in calories but it’s crazy high in flavor and heartiness. Chock full of veggies and perfect for topping, this is a great fall slow-cooker meal that will make your house smell awesome.

We’re going to start by sauteing some vegetables. I know people love to just throw everything in a crock pot, but I’m telling you right now, for most crock pot recipes it’s worth the extra step of sauteing veggies, or searing meat, etc. You’ll get deeper flavor, better texture, and overall better dishes when you follow full instructions that call for cooking things before tossing them in the slow-cooker. Okay, I’ll hop off the soap box now. Saute some diced onion, garlic, jalapeno, and bell pepper for about 5 minutes, until veggies are soft and fragrant. You don’t need 2 peppers like you see in my photo- you just need one bell pepper and I happened to have both a yellow and a red so I used half of each. Because I thought it looked pretty. I definitely prefer sweet peppers (red, yellow, or orange) but if they’re just too pricey, or unavailable, go ahead and use a green bell pepper. When those are cooked, place them in your slow-cooker.

Next up, ground turkey breast. I created this recipe using 20 ounces because the packs from the grocery store like this photo below are always 20 ounces (why? I don’t know, it’s kind of a strange number…) If you’re not using a package like my photo, you can use a pound if that’s easier to buy.

Now here’s a little trick I use often to either lighten recipes that use ground meat, or to stretch a small amount of meat and make it go further in a recipe (good for money-saving, too). I’ve said it before- I don’t love mushrooms, so if you’re like me- rest assured, you probably won’t even know they’re in here. That’s the point! I mince up mushrooms and toss them right in with the ground meat.

What happens is they take on the flavors and seasonings of the meat (in this case, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano, chili powder, salt and pepper) and since they cook along with it they just sort of disguise themselves in there. Since they have a soft texture, you don’t really notice them in the final product, but it makes it seems like there’s more meat than there is. In this case, it was more a matter of bulking up the chili and adding secret veggies. Add the turkey mushroom mixture to the slow-cooker with the vegetables.

Next up is the sweet potatoes. I use a vegetable peeler to peel the skin off and then dice them into 1/2 inch cubes. Since sweet potatoes are never uniform in size, just weigh them at the store; I shoot for about 1 1/2 pounds. It doesn’t have to be exact; a little less is certainly fine. You can even buy pre-chopped sweet potatoes in many produce departments.

Add in some black beans

and canned tomatoes

and then another secret ingredient: pumpkin puree! It may seem strange, but it adds a velvety texture and gives the chili body and richness. Plus it packs in lots of good-for-you vitamins and the flavor blends really well with the sweetness of the sweet potatoes. Just pretty pretty please, make sure your can doesn’t say “Pumpkin Pie” flavored… (and click here for a recipe for homemade pumpkin)

But we’re not stopping there. Just when you thought this chili couldn’t get any crazier, we’ve got 2 front-seat tickets on the crazy train. (I don’t even know what that means. Things like that come out of my mouth when I write my posts at midnight…) 2 more seasonings give this chili a mellow warmth: just a touch of cinnamon and a little unsweetened cocoa powder. They’re not uncommon ingredients in chili, but still ones you don’t see very often. The trick is not overdoing those types of flavors, and I put in just enough that it gives flavor, but not enough to overwhelm it.

Stir everything up with some beef broth and let that slow cooker do its thing.

When it’s all done, it’s thick and rich and super hearty. I like to stir in a big handful of chopped cilantro before serving, but that’s totally optional.

There’s so many good things in there, and when you get them all in one bite it’s a great mix of both flavors and textures.

You can top this with any traditional chili toppings you like, however, I like to keep it simple so I can still taste the unique flavor. A dollop of sour cream and a couple slices of avocado are perfect. You can however, load anything on there. And if you make this and have some eaters that aren’t too fond of the unique flavor, just squeeze a bunch of lime juice in there and add cheese and sour cream on top and it will actually mask the subtle sweetness and taste more like a traditional chili.

Instructions

Heat a large skillet to medium-high heat. Add 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil and add onion, garlic, bell pepper, and jalapenos. Saute for about 5 minutes, until veggies are tender and fragrant. Add to slow cooker.

In same skillet, heat remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil. Add turkey and mushrooms and stir to combine. Sprinkle in cumin, salt, pepper, oregano, chili powder and smoked paprika. (note: the meat will taste very seasoned when done. Keep in mind these seasonings are not to flavor just the meat, they will season the entire pot of chili, so they are intentionally strong!) Add turkey mixture to slow cooker.

Add sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beans, broth, pumpkin, cinnamon, and cocoa powder to slow cooker and stir til combine. Place lid on pot and cook for 4-6 hours on high, or 8-10 on low. Slow-cookers vary greatly in temperature and cooking times, but really, the important thing to note is if the sweet potatoes are tender.

When done, turn off heat and let chili sit with lid off for 10-15 minutes to thicken. Season with additional salt to taste before serving. If desired, serve with sour cream, sliced avocados, and a small squirt of fresh lime juice, and any other toppings desired.

Notes

*”Sweet potatoes” and “yams” are often sold interchangeably depending on what part of the country you live in. Just buy whichever one is orange 🙂

It freezes beautifully, so I like to make the recipe and then freeze half for another night. You can certainly halve the recipe as well, which I recommend if you have a small slow cooker.

Ah…love the “secret ingredients”. What you said about the mushrooms is so true. If only my family knew how much they ate them 😉 I was getting so excited as I was reading this post because I had every ingredient in my kitchen already. Then I got to “pumpkin purée”. Darn it! Of course I only have pumpkin pie. This is going on our menus for the next week. I have no idea if my family will eat it.

Wow. This is going on the menu for the weekend. I found myself nodding my head after each listed ingredient. By the end I was nodding and saying “yes” out loud. My children asked me “yes what?”, and I told them I was just excited about dinner. That seemed to placate them and they just walked away, which leads me to believe I may get overly excited about food too regularly. Hmmmmm. But in this instance, I think it’s totally warranted. I hate chili, but this looks divine!!!!

I actually have all of these ingredients (with the exception of the pumpkin) and was trying to figure out what to do with them! Perfect timing, this is what’s for dinner tonight (after a quick trip to the store)!

The last time I bought ground turkey I ended up freezing it and I was too lazy to portion it out before hand. I thought for sure I would regret that decision and end up with too much meat for one recipe or too little for another, but you just solved that for me by using the entire package! lol Looks like this one was made just for me. 🙂 YUM!

That looks so good! I have so many soup recipes that it’s actually getting hard to find one that is really that different than something I already make. But this is definitely different and I’m excited to try it this fall.

One of my family’s favorite recipes is Southwestern Shepherd’s pie. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Southwestern-Shepherds-Pie-355329. I found it in a magazine a few years ago. It’s pretty much your chili recipe but in shepherd’s pie form. It has almost all of the same ingredients that I love so I can’t wait to give this recipe a try. Sweet potatoes mixed with the peppers, cinnamon, cumin and tons of cilantro make such an amazing combination!

Thanks for getting back to posting recipes like this. It is why I visit your site often. Your recipes are great. I’ve stopped using traditional cookbooks, so it is disappointing when all my favorite recipe blogs are so consumed in writing cookbooks they stop posting the recipes they are working on and talk about everything but food.

If you have a food processor, use that to chop your mushrooms so they’re super small 🙂 And honestly, you could always leave them out if you really dislike them! You can use any kind of cheese, I put cheddar on it for my boys last night and it was great 🙂

My husband has learned to trust that everything I make from “my favorite Mormon girls” will be delicious. However, since he can’t stand black beans, sweet potatoes, pumpkin or mushrooms, this one might be pushing it a bit too far. I’m definitely making it next time he’s out of town though!

We are having a chili cook-off at our church for Halloween and I need to bring chili (for the non competitive category because I am not confident in making chili) and this looks like a great recipe! I have never made chili before so I can’t wait to try it. Thanks!

We got some sweet potatos in our bountiful basket a couple of weeks ago and I had never had them before so not sure what I was going yo do with then…..but I’m making this friday for dinner! Not sure what my 7 kids will say but they haven’t been disappointed by one of your recipes yet!

2. I hid pumpkin puree in everything. Most often meatloaf. It adds something great to it and while I’m not a huge “hide the vegetables from the kids” mom….I don’t exactly offer up that the pumpkin is in the meatloaf haha I buy the big cans of pumpkin and only ever use half. It’s a great way to use up anything extra in the fridge which we all know!

Sara! Thank you!! So excited for something above & beyond my usual chili (which is special b/c I use cilantro)…but yours is healthy and hearty. SO excited! I’m definitely going to use the mushrooms “trick” in a few other recipes.

I am definitely making this next week but I have a couple of questions. What difference would it make it I used ground chicken? It is on sale this week and I would like to use that if it is very similar. Also, where is the best place to get smoked paprika? Is it easy to find? Is ground turkey breast hard to find?

Ground chicken, or ground beef would be great in this recipe. You should be able to find ground turkey in the meat section of any grocery store. You can find smoked paprika by the regular spices as well, although occasionally it’s not stocked. If you have a Sam’s Club near you, I always bought it there- the big giant bottle was cheaper than the tiny bottle at the grocery store!

I couldn’t wait and rushed to the store this morning for pumpkin and mushrooms. Surprisingly, I had everything else. My family loved it! Best surprise for me? Trying chili with avocado. Is this common knowledge? That was the best condiment on chili that I’ve ever tried and it will be my must-have with chili! Thanks for sharing that little tidbit!

omigosh! this sounds just too fabulous! i love the combinations of flavors in here. we’re mostly shying away from meat and so i’m wondering if we could just leave the turkey out and use a vegetable broth rather than beef broth. ya think? it’s mixing it up even more than you’ve already done! great thinks here. great. fall must inspire you to greatness. (good luck on your house)

Just an fyi, like someone above mentioned, in your little printable recipe you don’t say when to add the sweet potatoes. I went back up to the pictures to find when you added them. I have this in the slow cooker right now but I’m trying it out with some homemade chicken sausage that my husband made. It smells divine and I’m hoping that my kids will eat the sweet potatoes this way.

Do you think you could make this in a pot on the stove? My awesome (and much loved/use) crock pot broke so I don’t have one right now. But this chili looks amazing and I want to make it!! 🙂 How long do you think it would take on the stove? Thanks!

Okay. So this is going to be amazing!!!! It’s in the crock pot as we speak.(or type) My husband is excited. Smell’s yummy. Wait, we have to eat at 11:00 PM,he says? Sorry honey,I started a litle late. Ha!

Wow! So I was a little nervous to try this as it definitely had some unique ingredients and I wasn’t sure if I’d love it (as well as my family). Nothing worse than spending time and money making a big batch of a new recipe only to find your family hates it! However, since that has never happened with any of Our Best Bite’s recipes, I decided “Hey! I trust these gals so what the heck. Let’s be adventurous and try something I might not normally make.” Let me just say I wasn’t disappointed!! My first couple of bites I thought, this is definitely unique and not bad!! But by the end of my first bowl, I thought this is REALLY good and I went back for seconds!! Made the cheesy garlic rolls to go with and this dinner was a hit!! Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. LOVE you guys!!!

Made this last night! I didn’t realize my crock pot would literally be overflowing so I had to remove some of the ingredients. Looks like I’ll need a bigger crock pot! 😉 It was really, really good! Very interesting flavors. The hubs said it is def one of the better chili recipes I have tried! Thanks lovelies!

This is in my crockpot now and it smells amazing! One thing I did not account for was the small size of my crockpot so I was able to fit everything in there but the sweet potatoes. My plan is to bake some sweet potaotes in the oven and then serve the chili over them. I think I’ll bake a few extra sweet potatoes that way I can dice up the extras and throw in the leftovers. Thanks for another amazing recipe!

You’ve saved me! I have to bring dinner to a friend who has just had a baby and I was stressing about what to bring. They are “foodies” and don’t eat red meat … so my stand-by lasagna was not going to work this time! I can’t wait to make this tomorrow … both for them and for us! Thank you!

This is PERFECT for Halloween! I wanted to make something special and this will also warm us all up after being in the cold. Such amazing autumn flavors! I think it will go well with our homemade butterbeer and pumpkin choclate chip cookies. I am so excited! 😀

Question: Since it is cooking so long in a slow cooker, could you add dry beans after a quick soak to cook in the crock-pot, or would that change the flavor or texture because you couldn’t rinse them? Would a pressure cooker work instead of the crockpot for speed? (and really, because my pressure cooker is much larger than my crockpot). Thanks for all the great recipes!! Love them!!!

I made this for my birthday lunch (yes, I cooked my own bday meal). It was wonderful and everyone loved it, even my 2 year old! I actually made it in 1 1/2 hours start to table. It was super easy, fast and tasted great even though it only got to simmer for an hour. It’s your 1st recipe I’ve tried as I haven’t been following your blog long but I will certainly be trying more! Cheers!

So delicious! I made this last night along with your sweet chile cheese cornbread perfect! I love the secret ingredients knowing that my family is getting all of those wonderful varieties of veggies thank you again! You are my go to site for new recipes and you have never failed to impress!

I made this soup a week ago…froze the leftovers….and then today I was having one of those weak…I waited so long to cook that I’m about to get a pizza moments….and then….there it was a wonderful wonderful meal just for me from me (with the help of OBB). Thanks for helping to make that happen!

Wow. This was seriously the best chili EVER. I was a little skeptical of cinnamon in chili, but the spices all blended perfectly. I served this Halloween night to rave reviews and loved the leftovers even better. Thank you thank you!

Just made this and it was delicious. I adapted the recipe to what I had on hand and omitted the meat since beans provide plenty of protein. I ended up using two cans of kidney beans, 1 can of black beans, fresh tomatoes from my garden (added a little tomato sauce for thickness), a whole sweet potato, 1/2 an onion, 3/4 can of pumpkin and then all of the spices you recommended plus veggie stock. I brought it to a boil on the stove and then let it simmer for 45 minutes. I thought it turned out great! I love new spins on chili.

Sorry, but this recipe didn’t turn out for us. If you are going to try it, make sure that you make only half at first as this is a fairly expensive chili to make. The sweet potato was overpowering. I added triple the amount of chili powder but it was still bland. Perhaps all the sweet potato as well as the pumpkin puree was just too much. I would recommend using only 1/2 of the sweet potato and 1/2 can of pumpkin puree.

I tried this yesterday and thought it was delicious! My picky husband ate two bowls without complaining, my picky 3 year old ate one bowl without complaining. AND my very picky pants 18 mo old ate a bowlful all by herself! Like spooned it in like she was eating sugary cereal. It got all over the table, chair and floor but HEY! she hasn’t eaten like that for two weeks! I personally would amp up the spices a bit, but I think mine are getting a little old. Garlic and chili pwd especially. Maybe add some tobasco? I loved the pumpkin and sweet potato and might add more next time too. I was thinking of adding some finely chopped spinach as well and get a whole rainbow of veggies in there without anyone the wiser! Thanks for this great recipe. I was kind of wary at first but this will be making frequent appearances at our picky table!

I’ve made this chili 4 times since finding the recipe and it has quickly become a favourite at our house. I haven’t experienced any issues with any of the ingredients. An absolutely fantastic recipe even in warmer weather!

This looks awesome! I frequently make chili with cinnamon and cocoa. I love the idea of adding such Fall favorites as pumpkin and sweet potato. I happen to love mushrooms in many foods, but have never been a fan of them in chili due to texture. This will be going on my menu for Columbus Day Weekend. Thank You!!!!!

This is a winner!!! It has a richness and depth to it and it will be in my fall and winter rotation for years to come. In addition, it was easy to make. I came home to a wonderful aroma and a delicious dinner. This is my new go to chili. The only change I made was a 1/4 jalapeño because that’s all I had on hand and I am not a huge fan of spicy hot. Wanting to keep the heat reasonable for me but still a bit of heat for my husband I added 3/4 tsp of cayenne. Soooooo good! Thank you 🙂

If anyone’s curious, I don’t have a slow cooker, and this came out amazing on the stove top. Also, I didn’t peel my sweet potatoes, because I don’t love my family enough, and you couldn’t tell by the time it all simmered into chili.

I pinned this from pinterest over a year ago and we got a sliver of cooler weather here in Texas today which called for a hearty fall chili. This was SOOO delicious! I didn’t have sweet potatoes so I used diced butternut squash instead and it was so tender and gave it great texture. Topping it off with lime made it PERFECT!

This is a favorite of mine and I always have a stash in my freezer! Has anyone calculated WeightWatchers points on this? I came up with 3 points when I added it up using the nutritional info above, but that sounds too good to be true! Thanks for sharing this recipe!